Castle Hayne residents voice concerns over proposed sand mine

Friday

Dec 20, 2013 at 12:16 PM

Castle Hayne residents came out in full force Friday morning to rally against a proposed sand mine

By Ashley WithersAshley.Withers@StarNewsOnline.com

Castle Hayne residents came out in full force Friday morning to rally against a proposed sand mine in the area.Family-owned Hilton Properties Limited Partnership in conjunction with Sledge Industries is seeking a conditional-use rezoning from rural agricultural to heavy industrial for a proposed sand mine on 62 acres at 4117 Castle Hayne Road.Hilton Properties already owns the 62-acre parcel. According to county tax records, the family owns more than 4,000 acres in the Castle Hayne area.A group of about 25 nearby residents and interested citizens attended a community meeting on the proposal Friday morning and it was clear that the majority of attendees would oppose the rezoning request.New Hanover County ordinances require a community meeting to be held before the application can be submitted to the planning and zoning department.After 20 minutes of debating the proposal, longtime resident Stephen Vosnock said the meeting should be rescheduled and set up in a better location. Friday's meeting was in a small church at 3011-B N. Kerr Ave. in the Wrightsboro area."People are interested in this. I think I can speak for most of the people in Castle Hayne. We're going to be very opposed to any change to the zoning," Vosnock said. He said he plans to call the county planning department and say that the meeting did not answer the residents' questions and should not count as a step in the permitting process. Vosnock's assertion was met with cheers from the rest of the group.Residents asked questions about the environmental impact of the project, the noise that would come from the sand excavation process, the volume of trucks coming to and from the site and the impact to the area's water. Todd Woodard and David Fort, two of the family members who own the property, tried to assuage their concerns. They explained that the site is accessible only by a private road located between McDougald Drive and the General Electric campus.Fort said the sand mine would be located 1.5 miles from the nearest residence, which is in the Wooden Shoe community off McDougald Drive. But they couldn't answer several questions, including how deep they planned to dig and any potential environmental impacts from the sand mining. Fort said the project has already been cleared by the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources and by the Army Corps of Engineers, he said.This rezoning request, he said, was simply to allow the family the possibility of using the land as a sand mine in the future. The sand mine use is not set in stone, he said. "We've been contacted over the years about the possibility of mining sand out there. Obviously sand is a hot commodity when building is going strong. Our thought here was since we know it's a lengthy process, we decided to do this process so we would have a permit in hand if we chose to move forward," Fort said. "We do not have an exact plan laid out as far as exactly how this thing is going to operate."The residents also asked what the family's future plans are for the acreage after the rezoning. A heavy industrial rezoning would not be limited solely to a sand mine. "We have a lot of concerns about allowing more heavy industry in the northern part of the county. We already feel kind of like the dumping ground in Castle Hayne," resident Kayne Darrell said. "New Hanover County has more heavy industry zoned areas than most counties in North Carolina and most of it is in Castle Hayne."The property owners countered and said that the mining permit would only be for 10 years and any other purpose would have to come back through this process. "We're prepared to answer questions about the permit we're applying for, which is the sand mine permit to sea level. But we're not prepared to answer any questions about any future plans, no," said Jennifer Martin, another co-owner of the property."Well, that's what we're looking at," Vosnock replied.The rezoning request for the proposed sand mine is expected to be heard at the Feb. 6 New Hanover County Planning Board meeting. It was unclear Friday what impact the residents' reaction to the meeting would have on the permitting process and the planning board hearing.

Ashley Withers: 343-2223On Twitter: @AshleyWithers

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